Friday, October 7, 2011

The Hotel del Coronado is a stunning Victorian beachfront resort hotel in the very southern California city of Coronado, just south of San Diego. It was only four years open when a beautiful young woman named Kate Morgan checked in on November 24th, 1892. She was apparently very ill for the time she spent at the hotel, and it was later speculated she had taken a large dose of quinine in an effort to induce miscarriage of an unwanted child. That she was distraught there was little argument, so when she was found on the outside steps leading to the beach on November 29th, with a single bullet hole in her temple and a gun nearby, the death was quickly ruled a suicide. From that point on, strange phenomena have been reported at the hotel: strange noises, lights flickering on and off, and even the occasional ghostly woman in Victorian garb wandering the halls.

It is worth noting during my research on this story that the particular room number where most of the phenomena is witnessed varies from account to account. Whether because the accounts are second hand (and many of them are), or whether there is confusion due to the changing of the room number over the years as the hotel has expanded, I cannot say.

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Ghosts of the Stanley Hotel

If you where staying at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado and turned to channel 42 of your guest-room television, you would be watching one of my all-time favorite movies: The Shining. Doesn’t matter what time of day or night, or year for that matter, it is always on. That’s not supernatural, of course- merely a nod to their role as the inspiration for Stephen King’s novel. Employees report hearing the commotion of a great party in the grand ballroom when there is no one there. Children can be heard playing in the halls when there are no children at all, and many guests have reported seeing ghostly figures in their rooms at night, merely standing, watching. The fourth floor seems to be host to the most amount of activity, and there is one ghost in particular, purportedly Lord Dunraven, the previous owner of the land the property was built on, who can be seen standing over the bed or looking out the window of room 407. He is widely blamed for any jewelry or valuables that have gone missing in the hotel over the years.

8

The Brown Lady

Raynham Hall

Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, is home to the subject of one of the most famous ghost photos ever captured, the Brown Lady is named so because she appears in a rich brocade brown dress. She is widely believed to be Lady Dorothy Walpole, sister of Sir Robert Walpole, who married Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend in 1713. She died under mysterious circumstances in 1726, and sightings of her began shortly after. Though reports of sightings have waned dramatically since the photo was taken in 1936, sightings before then had been reported by some fairly reputable sources. My favorite account is from a Major Loftus, who was staying at Raynham Hall in 1849. Retiring to bed one night, he and a friend named Hawkins observed a woman in brown brocade who vanished as Major Loftus approached her. Determined to confront the apparition, the next night he returned to she same spot and saw her again. He was horrified to see however, that when he looked into her face he saw only two black sockets where her eyes should have been. Unsettling to say the least!

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Clifton Hall

If you have a spare £2.75 million laying around, you can be the proud owner of Clifton Hall in Nottinghamshire, England. The property was noted as far back as the 11th century, and was in the hands of the Clifton family from the 13th century until its sale in 1958. From there it became a school, then another school, then another school , then a planned set of luxury apartments, before finally settling as a private residence most recently belonging to a mister Anwar Rashid, his wife, and their four children. It boasts 17 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, 10 reception rooms, a private gym and a cinema. Oh, and a few ghosts, of course. The Rashid family experienced unsettling phenomena their very first night in the home, in the form of a knocking sound and a man’s voice calling “Hello, is anyone there?” In one incident, Anwar’s wife, Nabila, went downstairs to prepare some milk for their 18 month old son at five o’clock in the morning and observed her eldest daughter sat in front of the television. When calling out to her gave no answer, Nabila got a strange feeling and went back upstairs to her daughter’s room, where the eldest was found still fast asleep in her bed. The Rashids fled the house after 8 months of putting up with the hauntings. Though their accounts are the most recent and easiest to find during research, there had been rumors and sightings on the property for as long as anyone could remember, including babies crying and a woman who could be seen through a window pacing in a room that had been bricked up and inaccessible.

6

The White Lady

Balete Drive

Oh, the ghosts of the Philippines! A Lady in White is undoubtedly the most common type of ghost anywhere in the world, and joins a laundry list of spirits in the Philippines for this story. I will say in research I have come across two accounts from locals of Quezon City, Philippines that say this is just a hoax, but I will stick with the majority opinion that there is something there. Believers report a woman in white with long black hair and her face either completely blank or obscured by blood standing in the middle of the road on Balete Drive. It is said you should avoid driving there at night – but if you do, make sure your back seat is full of passengers. Apparently it is in empty back seats that the White Lady will hitch a ride, spotted by the unfortunate driver in their rear view after they experience a dreadful ominous feeling.

Chloe and The Myrtles Plantation

Legend has it Chloe was a slave in the house of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana who had a bad habit of listening at keyholes to the goings on of the residents. Caught one day in the act by the Master of the house, he lopped off her ear as punishment, forcing her to wear a green scarf over her head to cover the wound. As punishment, she baked a cake with oleander leaves, a common plant in the south that is immensely poisonous. Though the master of the house was her target, her victims became his wife and two daughters, who died in agony a couple days after eating the cake. Chloe fled the house and was lynched by field slaves on the plantation for the wicked light she cast on the rest of them.

Fortunately or no, there is no historical evidence to back up this story, just an intriguing photo. True or not (probably not), there are certainly plenty of other ghosts to keep you company, including a young girl frequently spotted in a mirror on the stairs, and another young girl who chants voodoo over people who dare to sleep in her room. The Myrtles is currently a Bed and Breakfast that gives regular tours to those curious enough to want to see the house- just not alone after dark.

4

Resurrection Mary

Traveling northeast on Archer Lane between the Willowbrook Ballroom and Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois, young men might find themselves tempted to pick up a young woman hitchhiking on the side of the road. She has light blond hair and blue eyes, is wearing a white party dress, and has been dead since the 1930’s. If you pick her up, she will stop you in front of Resurrection cemetery and vanish from the car. She is a classic example of the vanishing hitchhiker legend, a type of ghost story that has been around for at least a few hundred years. What makes this one so distinctive is the consistency of the story- the girl looks the same, wears the same dress, disappears in the same spot. Also worth noting stories of this particular hitchhiker popped up suddenly in the mid thirties and have been going strong ever since, and not just for those in the know. An account from 1973 sees a cab driver inquiring at Chet’s Melody Lounge across the street from the cemetery about a girl who fled his cab without paying her fare. Only his description of her sounded mighty familiar to the customers: Resurrection Mary had struck again!

3

The Flying Dutchman

It was 1641 when Captain Hendrik van der Decken swore he would round the Cape of Good Hope if it took him till doomsday. At his current rate, it probably will. The captain’s ship, known as The Flying Dutchman, has been seen frequently around the area, a phantom ship often so close the witnesses would swear it was on a crash course for their ship, only to see it vanish before them. It is always viewed as a bad omen to see the ship. Such a sighting was witnessed by the future King George V of England in 1881. He wrote: “At 4 a.m. the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars, and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow”. Later that morning, the sailor who originally spotted the vessel fell to his death.

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Abraham Lincoln

Legend has it Lincoln saw his fate before he was assassinated. He reported a dream to his cabinet in which he wandered into a funeral at the white house, and when he inquired of one of the mourners who had died, the man responded “The President… he was killed by an assassin.”

Lincoln’s ghost has been spotted by many visitors and residents of the white house, among them First Lady Grace Coolidge, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and even Winston Churchill, who of course had something clever to say on the occasion. He claimed to be fresh from the bath, in the nude (what an image!) walking into the bedroom when he saw Lincoln standing near the fireplace. He quipped “Good evening, Mr. President. You seem to have me at a disadvantage.”, after which Lincoln smiled softly and disappeared.

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Anne Boleyn

Second Wife of Henry VIII and mother of a future Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn had three years as queen consort before Henry tired of her. Accused (most historians agree falsely) of adultery, incest and witchcraft, she faced an executioner’s sword with her head held high on May 19th, 1536. The executioner was reported to have said “Where is my sword?” before striking the single blow necessary, apparently in an effort to ease Anne’s anticipation by making her think she had a few moments more.

Her ghost has been spotted by several different people in several different locations: Hever Castle, Blickling Hall, Salle Church, Marwell Hall, and perhaps most famously the Tower of London. Though she is most often seen just as she was alive- a beautiful woman in a beautiful gown- some sightings are a bit more upsetting. More unlucky individuals will see her as she was just after death- headless, often with the head tucked under one arm. It has become such an iconic image it is often parodied in movies and television, and more elaborate Halloween costumes. One must not forget, however, what you would think if such a vision approached you in some dark corridor one night.

Oscar Romero was a prominent Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop in El Salvador during the 1960s and 1970s. After witnessing numerous violations of human rights, he began to speak out on behalf of the poor and the victims of El Salvador’s long and bloody civil war. After speaking out against U.S. military support for the government of El Salvador, and calling for soldiers to disobey orders that harmed human rights, Archbishop Romero was shot to death while celebrating Mass at a small chapel near his cathedral. It is believed that his assassins were members of Salvadoran death squads, including two graduates of the School of the Americas.

Olof Palme

Palme was a Swedish politician and prime minister (1982 – 1986). The nuclear accident in 1979 at Three Mile Island in the United States had a great impact in Sweden, and Palme contributed to a referendum (passed in 1980) to remove all nuclear reactors in Sweden. After being elected prime minister again in 1982, Palme tried to reinstate socialist economic policies in Sweden, and he continued to be outspoken on matters of European security. He was shot and killed while walking home with his wife after a visit to a cinema. The motive and identity of the killer remain a mystery.

The Boy in the Box

In 1957, an unidentified Caucasian male, probable age 4 to 6 years, whose nude body, wrapped in a cheap flannel blanket, was found lying face up inside a large cardboard carton just a few feet from the edge of Susquehanna Road in Northeast Philadelphia. The body was dry and clean. The boy’s arms were carefully folded across his stomach. The finger and toenails had been recently trimmed short and neat. His hair had been cut recently – very close to the head, in a crude, hurried way, perhaps as a deliberate attempt to conceal the child’s identity. Small clumps of cut hair clung to his entire body, suggesting that someone had groomed him while he was unclothed, probably either shortly before or immediately after death. There were many bruises all over the child’s body; particularly on the head and face. All of the bruises appeared to have been inflicted at the same time. Despite recent DNA investigations in to the crime, it remains unsolved.

Jack the Stripper

Jack the Stripper was the nickname given to an unknown serial killer responsible for what came to be known as the London “nude murders” between 1964 and 1965. His victimology was similar to Jack the Ripper’s. He murdered six — possibly eight — prostitutes, whose nude bodies were discovered around London or dumped in the River Thames. The victim count is ambiguous because two of the murders attributed to him did not fit his modus operandi. Like the Jack the Ripper killings, the Stripper’s reign of terror seemed to cease on its own, and there were few solid clues for police to investigate. Though his identity remains unknown, crime writer Donald Rumbelow notes that the killer could have been a young man who committed suicide in south London. This main suspect, who was also a favorite suspect of Chief Superintendent Du Rose, was a security guard on the Heron Trading Estate in Acton whose rounds included a paint shop where one of the bodies was thought to have been hidden after the crime. Though there was never any hard evidence to link him to the crimes, his family found his suicide inexplicable, and his suicide note cryptically said only that he was “unable to take the strain any longer”.

The Axeman of New Orleans

On May 23, 1918, an Italian grocer named Joseph Maggio and his wife were butchered while sleeping in their apartment above the Maggio grocery store. Upon investigation, the police discovered that a panel in the rear door had been chiseled out, providing a way in for the killer. The murder weapon, an axe, was found in the apartment, still coated with the Maggio’s blood. Nothing in the house had been stolen, including jewelry and money that were nearly in plain sight. The only clue that was discovered was a message that had been written in chalk near the victim’s home. It read: “Mrs. Joseph Maggio will sit up tonight. Just write Mrs. Toney”. Almost exactly a month after the Maggio murder came a second crime. Louis Bossumer, a grocer who lived behind his store with his common-law wife, Annie Harriet Lowe, was discovered by neighbors one morning, lying in a pool of blood. The Axeman murdered a total of eight people before the killings stopped. There was no evidence to link the only suspect, Joseph Mumfre, to the crimes.

JonBenét Ramsay

JonBenet Ramsays was a six-year-old girl known for her participation in beauty pageants in the United States. She was found murdered in the basement of her parents’ home in Boulder, Colorado, nearly eight hours after she was reported missing. The case is notable in both its longevity and the media interest it has generated in the United States. After several grand jury hearings the case is still unsolved. In December 2003, forensic investigators extracted enough material from a mixed blood sample found on JonBenét’s underwear to establish a DNA profile. The DNA belongs to an unknown Caucasian male. The DNA was submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database containing more than 1.6 million DNA profiles, mainly from convicted felons. The sample has yet to find a match in the database, although it continues to be checked for partial matches on a weekly basis.

Black Dahlia

Elizabeth Short (born 29 July 1924) was a 22-year-old American woman who was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. Nicknamed the Black Dahlia, Short was found cut in half and severely mutilated on 15 January 1947 in Leimert Park, Los Angeles. The murder, which has remained unsolved, has been the source of widespread speculation as well as several books and film adaptations. Sensational and sometimes inaccurate press coverage, as well as the horrible nature of the crime, focused intense public attention on the case. About 60 people confessed to the murder, mostly men, as well as a few women. As the case continues to command public attention, many more people have been proposed as Short’s killer, much like London’s Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.

Andrew and Abby Borden

On a Thursday morning, August 4, 1892,Andrew Bordenleft home to conduct his business, leaving in the house, besides his wife, an Irish maid (Bridget Sullivan) and his daughter Lizzie. On his return, he settled on a sofa for a nap. About 11:15 AM, Lizzie (according to her testimony) discovered her father dead, repeatedly struck in the head with a sharp instrument. Upstairs his wife’s body was found, even more brutally mutilated; examination proved that her death had preceded her husband’s by an hour or so. It was found that Lizzie had tried to purchase prussic acid (a poison) on August 3, and a few days later she was alleged to have burned a dress in a stove. Sullivan, who also has been suspected, later that evening reportedly left the house carrying an unexamined parcel. No weapon was found, though an axe found in the basement was suspected. Lizzie was arrested and tried for both murders in June 1893 but was acquitted, given the circumstantial evidence. She was nonetheless ostracized thereafter by the people of her native Fall River, Massachusetts, where she continued to live until her death in 1927.

The Zodiac

The Zodiac Killer is one of the great unsolved serial killer mysteries of all time, taking only second place to Jack the Ripper. Even though police investigated over 2,500 potential suspects, the case was never officially solved. There were a few suspects that stood out, but the forensic technology of the times was not advanced enough to nail any one of them conclusively. The Zodiac murdered five known victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted. Others have also been suspected to be Zodiac victims, but there has been thus far no conclusive evidence to link them to the killer.

Jack the Ripper

Traditionally, Jack the Ripper is considered to have killed five women, all London prostitutes, during 1888. The Ripper generally killed by strangling his victims, then laying them down and cutting the arteries in their throats; this was followed by a varied process of mutilation, during which parts of the body were removed and kept. During the autumn and winter of 1888/89 a number of letters circulated among the police and newspapers, all claiming to be from the Whitechapel murderer; these include the ‘From Hell’ letter and one accompanied by part of a kidney. Ripperologists consider most, if not all, of the letters to be hoaxes. Over a century later Jack’s identity has never been wholly proven (there isn’t even a leading suspect), most aspects of the case are still debated and the Ripper is an infamous cultural bogeyman.